Star Sports
CountryChina
Broadcast area
China
NetworkFox Sports Asia
HeadquartersHong Kong SAR, China
Programming
Language(s)English
Picture format1080i HDTV
(downscaled to 16:9 480i/576i for the SDTV feed)
Ownership
OwnerFox Networks Group Asia Pacific
(Disney International Operations)
Sister channelsMainland China:
Star Movies
National Geographic
History
Launched
  • August 21, 1991 (Star Sports)
  • June 1, 1992 (ESPN, Star Sports 2)
ClosedOctober 1, 2021 (2021-10-01)
Replaced bySPOTV (South Korea)
Former names
Star Sports 2
Links
Websiteglobal.espn.com

Star Sports is an East Asian pay television sports channel broadcast to Mainland China and formerly South Korea, operated by Fox Networks Group Asia Pacific, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company (Southeast Asia). It was previously part of the Fox Sports operations in East and Southeast Asia, but this version retained Star Sports name; ESPN Mainland China was instead renamed Star Sports 2.

History

Hong Kong-based Star TV launched Prime Sports (later renamed Star Sports) in partnership with American company TCI, which owned Prime-branded regional sports channels. The channel was broadcast across Asia, as with the footprint of AsiaSat 1. Star TV have since regionalised the channel with a number of versions, including a dedicated version for Taiwan. Later, ESPN have joined in the region as a competitor to Star Sports.

In October 1996, ESPN and Star Sports have agreed to combine their operations across Asia.[1] As a result, a joint venture named, ESPN Star Sports was formed, to be headquartered in Singapore.[2]

In June 2012, it was announced that News Corporation would buy ESPN International's share in ESPN Star Sports.[3][4] Following the News Corporation take over, ESPN all over Asia would be relaunched as Fox Sports but the relaunch of ESPN Star Sports as Fox Sports did not affect much of East Asia, as Star Sports continued to broadcast in Mainland China and South Korea kept the brand, and instead, the version of ESPN for Mainland China was renamed as Star Sports 2 on 10 January 2014.[5][6]

Alongside 16 other channels owned by Disney, Star Sports 2 was shut down on October 1, 2021, while Star Sports China mainly used ESPN feed.[7]

Channels

  • Star Sports 1
  • Star Sports 2: This channel was not available in South Korea only in Mainland China.

Programming

Sporting events covered by Star Sports include:

Australian Rules Football

Baseball

Basketball

Boxing

  • Versus
  • World Boxing Matches

Bull Riding

Cricket

Football

Golf

Kickboxing

Mixed Martial Arts

Motorsports

Rugby

Union

Tennis

News

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Rival sport channels ESPN, Star TV team up together". Advertising Age. October 9, 1996. Retrieved 11 January 2019.
  2. ↑ Sullivan, Maureen (January 15, 1997). "Asian TV team christens venture ESPN Star Sports". Variety. Retrieved 11 January 2019.
  3. ↑ Szalai, Georg (6 June 2012). "News Corp. to Buy Out ESPN's Stake in Asian TV Venture". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 8 January 2019.
  4. ↑ Steel, Emily (June 7, 2012). "News Corp to take over ESPN Star Sports". Financial Times. Retrieved 8 January 2019.
  5. ↑ Christensen, Nic (July 4, 2014). "Fox to reorganises its sports channels". Mumbrella Asia. Retrieved 8 January 2019.
  6. ↑ Valisno, Jeffrey O. (August 26, 2014). "Fox completes rebranding of sports channels". BusinessWorld. Archived from the original on 8 January 2019. Retrieved 8 January 2019.
  7. ↑ Multiple sources:
  8. ↑ "ESPN Reaches Agreement with Eclat Media Group to Provide Exclusive English-Language Coverage of KBO League, South Korea's Most Popular Sports League, throughout Canada, Parts of Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Select Countries in Asia". ESPN. 2020-05-22. Retrieved 2020-06-03.
  9. ↑ "FOX Sports Asia on Instagram: "The ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 starts today! 🔥🏆💯 .. Follow Fox Sports Asia for the latest news and updates. ✅✅✅ .. .. .. #icc #cricket🏏…"". Instagram. Archived from the original on 2021-12-24. Retrieved 2019-06-15.
  10. ↑ "FOX+ the home of UFC® in Philippines". FOX+. Archived from the original on 4 May 2019. Retrieved 2019-05-04.
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